Harvey Parnell (1880 - 1936)

Born 28 Feb 1880 in Cleveland County, Arkansas

Ancestors

Husband of Mabel (Winston) Parnell — married 2 Jun 1903 in Bradley County, Arkansas

Died 16 Jan 1936 at age 55 in Little Rock, Arkansas

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Preceded by
John Ellis Martineau

29th Governor of Arkansas
1928 - 1933

Succeeded by
Junius Marion Futrell

Biography

Harvey Parnell is Notable.

Harvey Parnell was Arkansas's first Lieutenant Governor of the 20th century and its 29th Governor. He was born in Orlando, Cleveland County, Arkansas on 28 February 1880 to William Robert Parnell, a farmer, and Mary Elizabeth Martin.

Gov. Parnell attended one-room Arkansas public schools and graduated from high school at Warren, Arkansas where he started his career in a hardware store. From 1898 to 1899 he was a bookkeeper, and from 1900 to 1903 was a clerk in a store in Dermott. He then established an independent business which he operated for eight years, and then turned his attention to operating his plantation in Chicot County, known as "Old Crooked."

On 2 June 1902 he married Mable Winston, daughter of Jack C. and Mattie (Crenshaw) Winston, at Dermott, Arkansas. They had two children:

1. Martha Dell, b. 6 Oct 1910
2. Mary Frances, b. 26 Sep 1919

In 1919 he was elected as a Democrat to the State House, serving until 1921. In 1923 he was elected to the State Senate, serving until 1925. He was elecgted Lieutenant Governor in 1926, and succeeded John Martineau as Governor upon his resigation on 14 March 1928. He was reelected in the 1928 and 1930 elections.

In his years of public service, Parnell was known as a Progressive, supporting women's suffrage, the child labor amendment, Prohibition, and modernizing and expanding public services. He lead the fight for the passage of the state's first income tax and tobacco tax. As Governor, he appointed Hattie Caraway to the U.S. Senate. She would go on to become the first woman elected to that body.

After leaving office on January 10, 1933, Parnell returned to his farming interests, and spent three years as an appraiser for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Gov. Parnell was affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, and Consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He was also associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. He was a member of the Prairie Longue Hunting Club and Dermott Chamber of Commerce, and worshiped at the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He died on January 16, 1936, in Little Rock, after suffering two heart attacks. He is buried at the Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sources

• Thomas, David Y. “Hon. Harvey Parnell.” Biography. In Arkansas and Its People: A History, 1541-1930, IV:469–69. New York: American Historical Society, 1930.
• Salamo, Pamela. “Harvey Parnell (1880–1936).” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/harvey-parnell-117/ (accessed July 14, 2020).
• https://web.archive.org/web/20121114110335/http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/the_1920s_and_1930s/parnell.aspx
• Find A Grave Memorial# 19655
• Harvey Parnell on Wikipedia